Daily rantings of a man dealing with cancer and life in general, advice and encouragement in staying positive, gaining respect and being remembered as being a good person who brought happiness to others. Big Hugs. XXX

More importantly this is the Manx Peoples National Anthem not the official one which is O'Land of our birth. This one is Ellan Vannin, originally a poem, really good.

I must admit I am very proud to be Manx and when I downloaded it a few nights ago and played it with Norma sitting next to me, it brought more than just one tear to my eye.

It is that time of year that I miss having a few days with my family, it has been a year now since I have seen the Kids and longer since I have been home to the Island. Due to a past manager at my place of work messing up and cancelling my holidays which I will never forgive him for and I hope he reads this blog sometime. He will get his bad times sometime and I will be happy.

Right this Christmas I am on standby to go in on Christmas day but off on Boxing day. Our plan's are to just lock the front door and stay in I think with perhaps a trip up to Norma's Daughters home to see the Kids.

We posted our presents my family in the Isle of Man and to Norma's family in Carlisle, Norma's Brother Stuart had his Car stolen with some of the presents in it, plus presents he had bought for his partner and Children. Thieves deserve to be hung at Christmas. We think the car was stolen to order as it was an expensive top of the range Audi. Stuart is a very calm almost horizontal sort of guy, a really good man and is taking all in his stride.

Norma and I have not been in the best of health for a while now and are hopeful that 2009 will bring us both better health, me I just have a virus that has been with me for a while now and Norma is under a Heart specialist (trying to find one, only joking).

Well I have been with Teletech http://www.teletech.com/en-us/ since February on the o2 pre-pay mobile phone / broadband account. I have never worked in the outsourcing sector before and have never experienced a new venture of a scale like this before, Mega millions invested in location, training. I will say it has been tough at times and I have thought of packing it all in at times but at this time we have a number of new Senior Managers in place and some new things are being put in place that are going to improve things even further. I am sorry that a few people moved on most of all Gino and Warren who started at the same time as myself and others, i do hope the new jobs they went to are excellent positions they deserve them and anyone they are working for should Cherish these guys. I am also really happy to say one of my colleagues a Dutch man called Erik is the acting Operational Manager and I wish him all the best for his trial period and promise my support.

Cortes de la Frontera, well if it was purely down to Norma and myself we would make a call and move out tomorrow, not possible at the moment but all is shaping up nicely. At the latest we will be living in campo of Andalusia soon enough with me working in Gibraltar. Watch this space.

Rant on ' I have taken a break from writting this blog entry to nip down the road into Manchester City Centre, why do whole familes have to wander around the Arndale 4 abreast with a pram out front stopping real shoppers' Rant off.

Things I enjoyed during 2008, seeing Peter up in Glasgow, just an hour or so but a pleasure. Going to Cortes meeting up with the crowd there and having Sheila with us. Starting a New Job and sticking with it through the hard times. Son Richard getting a bigger house at home in Onchan. Being with Nutty Norma. I am sure there are lots of other things I have enjoyed this blog is something I enjoy, maybe I should read it all the way back to see how things have changed, mostly for the better.

I will try to do another entry before the year end but just in case I do not.